There They Go Again

So much for open government:

House Minority Leader John Boehner (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio, Tuesday slammed Democrats' plans to advance the huge $463.5 billion measure through the House on Wednesday without giving Republicans or rank and file Democrats a chance to offer changes in an Appropriations Committee session or on the floor.

Most lawmakers — and the public — were to get their first chances to read the budget tome Tuesday, barely a day before the House was supposed to vote it up or down.

Good thing we aren't in a war, or anything:

Activists pressing for big boosts to combat AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis overseas won a $1.3 billion increase — to $4.5 billion. That's enough to fund the president's $225 million initiative to fight malaria and increase the U.S. contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to $724 million.

Not so the military and FBI, though Veteran's Benefits weren't neglected.

Also among the beneficiaries is the National Institutes of Health, which would receive a $620 million budget hike, about 2 percent. The FBI, facing hiring curbs, would get a modest $200 million increase in its $6 billion budget.

Some of Bush's initiatives, such as a $5.5 billion request to implement a round of military base closures passed two years ago, absorbed deep cuts. Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England warned lawmakers last month that shortfalls for the base closing initiative "could result in postponing scheduled redeployments from overseas stations to the United States" as well as slow the Army's moves to boost overseas deployment in smaller, more nimble fighting units.

Comments

[Wally]

Sorry cons, you lose. No input for you any more. The defunding has begun.

[TheSpartan]

Is there a point to this post?

[ZZMike]

We knew the Democrats were going to slash and burn, and they haven't disappointed us. Maybe now that they have the floor, they can continue the good work started by their predecessor, Bill Clinton, and dismantle the rest of the military.

[TheSpartan]

Did you read the article ZZ? There are no massive cuts to the military. The biggest chunk looks like a cut to the base closure initiative. Most areas have seen slight increases, including benefits to vets and active duty military. Being a vet himself Dan should appreciate that.

[Dan Riehl]

What I'm concerned about is putting more funding into the FBI and military, than another 1.4 Billion for thieves in Africa to abscond with. So little of our aid there ever sees the people that need it, it's mostly waste. On top of that, I want the military re-sctructued to deal with today's and tomorrow's threats. This budget does just the opposite. But why should you Libs care? You'll just sit on your fat asses and complain next time good young men and women have to go into combat to protect your sorry ass.

[Artie]

I reserve my complaints for failed wars that squander billions of $. How exactly am I being protected by the actions of the US military in Iraq?? Its no surprise you cons are such utter failures.

[Stormy70]

The Senate is killing all these House bills, anyway. 60 is a hard enough vote to get to in the Senate, getting a veto proof 67 is laughable. The minimum wage bill is stuck without the tax cuts. Big talk, little action will define this Congress.

[TheSpartan]

Oh Dan,
you're cute when you're indignant. If you were so concerned with people absconding with money wouldn't you be more interested in going after the war profiteers in Iraq?

[Purple Avenger]

Africa is a funny situation - yes, the place is certainly full of kleptocrats, but its become a very strategic area for American interests lately. The PRC has been methodically destroying the African manufacturing base. I believe we need to support them, even if inefficiently, as a counter balance to PRC world manufacturing hegemony, and to prevent the place from becoming a terrorist haven.

This is a very revealing piece on where the PRC is going with Africa:

http://pundita.blogspot.com/2007/01/frankenstein-in-africa-china-sets-out.html

[Tom]

Also, please remember the repubs left lots of spending bills 'in limbo' for many months leading up to the November elections. The massive spending bill discussed today is really a conglomeration of many (+/- 16) spending bills.

[TheSpartan]

And they did that on purpose Tom. I recall some discussion about it before the election that they basically weren't going to do their jobs until after the elections.

[Purple Avenger]

"the repubs left lots of spending bills 'in limbo' for many months leading up to the November elections."

Which of course is why a Pelosi spokesman said ignoring (while "staunchly supporting") Bush's African AIDS aid was being "fiscally responsible" right?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/12/MNG5ENHDOB1.DTL

"Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Pelosi, said she is fully aware of the problem. "She staunchly supports these programs, but we are also trying to achieve fiscal responsibility," he said"

[Bill Adkins]

Yeah, we want to give the FBI more money, Dan - so they can do this: "The FBI appears to have adopted an invasive Internet surveillance technique that collects far more data on innocent Americans than previously has been disclosed.

Instead of recording only what a particular suspect is doing, agents conducting investigations appear to be assembling the activities of thousands of Internet users at a time into massive databases, according to current and former officials." http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6154457.html

And, of course, more money for Bush to piss away in Iraq instead of finding and fighting Al Qaeda. Sure, stay the course and be stuck on stupid.

[sglover]

Only a neo-Stalinist tool could mention this without laughing out loud:

"House Minority Leader John Boehner (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio, Tuesday slammed Democrats' plans to advance the huge $463.5 billion measure through the House on Wednesday without giving Republicans or rank and file Democrats a chance to offer changes in an Appropriations Committee session or on the floor."

Golly, maybe the Republican-dominated 109th Congress should've done what they were paid for, and submitted a goddam budget before they ended their session. I'm pretty sure that Boehner was in a position to do something about that -- maybe he could've pushed for a grueling four day work week, something extreme like that. I'll bet you were really upset about THAT lapse, eh, lickspittle?

"But why should you Libs care? You'll just sit on your fat asses and complain next time good young men and women have to go into combat to protect your sorry ass."

Ah. The lickspittle has returned to the kind of "discourse" that he's comfortable with.

How goddam dumb and servile can you be, Riehl?

[Artie]

That's right, kool-aid drinking cons. No more funding for your nonsense. Iraq will be defunded by September. You are irrelevant. Go sign more petitions. Stay the course.